Sails are back, only this time they're not on the ocean. Engadget: "Cosmos 1, the world’s first solar sail, is set to launch within minutes (as in, from now) from a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea."

Interesting for so many reasons.... but esp. the launch vehicle & the propulsion method. Here's hoping it all goes to plan.

Update: It didn't. The conventional part of the machine failed. "One of the rockets propelling the solar sail-powered spacecraft, Cosmos 1, into the heavens petered out about 83 seconds into flight."